Area Sees Big Drop in Chronic Homelessness

The High Point Enterprise

GREENSBORO, N.C. (November 11, 2017) — Guilford County is one of only seven communities in the nation to nearly end chronic homelessness.

From 2013-2016, Phillips Foundation provided grants totaling $1.96 million to Partners Ending Homelessness through United Way of Greater Greensboro. In 2013, there were 143 cases of chronic homelessness in Guilford County. By last summer, that count dropped to only three.

“We don’t want to classify somebody as chronically homeless if they just show up at shelters once in a while,” said Steve Key, director of Open Door Ministries in High Point. He said the downtown shelter houses about 70 to 75 homeless people a day, more than 500 people a year, but only a few of those are chronically homeless.